Indo-Pak Peace Talks and Taliban Provocations

There are reports (February 23) in Indian media that two Sikhs were killed
by Pakistan based Taliban militants in Khyber and Orakzi areas near
Peshawar. These Sikhs were part of a group of many Sikhs who had been
kidnapped by the Taliban over a month ago. The Taliban had demanded Rs 30 million as ransom for the release of this group and killed two of them after the expiry of the deadline for the payment of the ransom, Jizya. Two
persons, Gurvinder Singh and Gurjit Singh amongst others are still believed
to be in the custody of the militants.

Some reports suggest that these Sikhs were killed after their refusal to
convert to Islam. Indian Government has reacted strongly to this mindless
act by Taliban. Many an Indian political groups and a group of Muslim
intellectual activists have also condemned this barbaric act in no uncertain
terms. The group of Muslim intellectuals/activists in their statement point
out, “The inhuman and un-Islamic act of killing innocent civilians has once
again exposed the true face of the terrorists whose only aim is to use the
name of Islam, the religion of peace and mercy, for their nefarious designs,
ulterior motives and worldly pleasures. These are the people who denigrate
the name of Islam and bring disrepute to all Muslims of the World. No
civilized Muslim would accept the logic of killing innocents in the name of
religion. Safeguarding the lives of its minorities from lawlessness, mayhem
and protecting their lives and property is the paramount duty of an Islamic
State. The continuous pressure on the Sikh community in Pakistan is alarming and demands urgent attention of civil society, religious leadership and the establishment in Pakistan.”

The other aspect of this brutal act is that it is coming just in the wake of
the Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan to begin this
25th(Thursday). Earlier also there has been a correlation between the
improving Pak-India relations and such acts of insanity which put a great amount of pressure on Indian Government to put off the talks. There are numerous such incidents which one recalls. The first such major incident was the Kargil occupation by Pakistan army under Pervez Musharraf in the wake of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Bus Yatra which aimed to break the ice of coldness between the two neighbors. This was done without the knowledge of Nawaz Sharif, the President.

The second major act had been the Mumbai 26/11, 2008, before which Asif Ali Zardari had been giving positive signals of improving the relations between India and Pakistan. Today one is clear that there are multiple power centers in Pakistan. The democratic Government is trying to establish its writ, but the army and Taliban are doing their best to thwart the return of democracy, democratization process in Pakistan and betterment of Pak-India relations.

One must compliment the Indian Government to keep its cool, and firmness in the face of these deliberate provocations. The need to distinguish between the civilian Governments, army-mullah-Taliban complex is mandatory if we want to understand Pakistan today.

From the decades of 1980s multiple processes have gripped Pakistan and these had adverse impact on the whole of South Asia, India in particular. One recalls the rise of Zia Ul Haq with the support of US and Maulanas, led by Maulana Maududi. The formulations of Maulana Maududi provided ideal foil to the military dictatorship in Pakistan. At the same time US could merrily support Madrassa’s which were training Muslim youth as its cannon fodder for its plans to boost anti Soviet forces in Afghanistan, which was occupied by Russian army. Since US army was deeply humiliated due to its defeat in Vietnam, US masterminded to indoctrinate Muslim youth to be trained as terrorists. These were the one’s who joined anti Russian forces, which got defeated and since then these Taliban’s/Al Qaeda are creating havoc. Not only in India, they have also wrecked the life in Pakistan, several
terrorist attacks, one of which killed the Pakistan ex-Prime minister
Benazir Bhutto. Today Taliban/Al Qaeda types are like cancer eating into the
vitals of Pakistan. Their impact is also felt here in India. Pakistan in a
way is caught in a pincer movement, on one hand the Al Qaeda-Taliban
creating havoc and on the other Army trying to remain as the major power
center. India has a tough task to remain calm and firm in the face of this
massive turmoil in the region.

We must see clearly that in this situation Pakistan civil government’s hand
must be strengthened so that it can deal effectively against the army
highhandedness and terrorist nuisance in the region. One also must make it
clear that what Taliban is doing has nothing to do with Islamic teachings as
such. As per Islam, there can’t be force or compulsion in matters of
religion. To force somebody to convert by force is not acceptable as per
Islamic teachings. Also to kill the innocent people also goes against
teachings of Koran.

As far a Jizya is concerned it was a tax levied on non Muslims in Muslim
rule. This was in lieu of exemption from military duties and was a small
proportion of the income of the person. It was mostly lesser than the Zakat,
which is mandatory in Islam. Today to talk of Jizya is a political abuse of
worst order; those using this language need to be restrained in the
democratic society. The million rupee question remains, will civilian rule
prevail over the fissiparous forces operating within Pakistan. Indian
Government must take up the issue of protection of minorities in Pakistan
without any compromise.